Russia: Duma still firmly in Putin party’s grip

In a Facebook post, political scientist Alexander Shmelev describes Russia’s political system as one of total conformity:

“From now on, all public figures in the country must support all of Vladimir Putin’s decisions, ‘traditional values’, social ‘lynch pins’, the war, the confrontation with the West, and so on with one voice. Any deviation on these issues is out of the question. … In this model, ‘elections’ have definitively become a symbolic ritual, the main purpose of which is to reaffirm the absolute unity of the nation. Their ‘results’ are determined and confirmed in advance. There are no surprises.”